It's not news that black, Hispanic, and Native American Ph.D.
students complete doctoral programs at lower rates than do their
Asian and white counterparts. Comprehensive efforts to measure and
improve racial disparities in Ph.D. attrition and completion rates
have been tried for decades.

But the Council of Graduate Schools is announcing today an
effort that it hopes will attack the problem in a new way. The
council is awarding grants of $30,000 to 21 institutions, which
will